The quality of life in Britain is the worst in Europe – lower even than Poland, because of crime, violence and the high cost of living.

A study puts the UK at the bottom of a league of ten nations, even though some of them have much lower incomes.

Households in countries such as Poland, France, Spain and Italy all have less material wealth but are considerably happier with life.

Only 5 per cent of Britons describe themselves as happy, while 10 per cent would like to emigrate.

The league is based on 16 factors including net income, VAT, the cost of essential goods such as fuel, food and energy, as well as lifestyle considerations such as hours of sunshine, holiday entitlement, working hours and life expectancy.

Share this article

Share

‘Long working hours, the lowest number of days holiday a year and a high retirement age paint a bleak picture for those in the UK,’ said the uSwitch.com price comparison website, which carried out the study.

‘We also suffer the most expensive food and diesel prices along with higher-than-average petrol costs, while enjoying almost the lowest amount of sunshine.’

The good life: Polish city Warsaw. The average retirement age in Poland is 59, four years lower than in Britain. Workers also have ten days more holiday

Beautiful, but 'broken': London's Southbank. 59 per cent of those polled were worried about a breakdown in society, demonstrated by the summer's riots

Some 59 per cent of those polled were worried about a ‘broken society’, as demonstrated by the summer riots in many towns and cities.

Forty-nine per cent listed the rising cost of living as a burden, while 47 per cent were worried about the levels of crime and violence.

UK average net household income is put at £38,547, well ahead of the £31,767 in France, £25,601 in Italy, £23,398 in Spain and just £8,759 in Poland.

However, the quality of life is said to be better in all these other nations.

France comes out top for the third year in a row, ahead of Spain and Italy, while Poland is ranked seventh. Britons enjoy an average of 28 days holiday a year, which compares with 36 in France, 38 in Poland and Sweden, and 39 in Spain.

RIGHTMINDS

Ania Lichota, moved from Poland to the UK since 2006: 'In England there are so many opportunities; for travel, for culture, music, cuisine, theatre. The financial services where I work, all have their hubs here. I don’t think I will ever be moving back to Poland’